"Freak the Freak Out" is the second single by

Victoria Justice Victoria Dawn Justice (born February 19, 1993) is an American actress and singer. She has received several accolades, including two Young Artist Awards and nominations for three Imagen Awards, an NAACP Image Award, and three Kids' Choice Awar ...

from the

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...

'' Victorious: Music from the Hit TV Show'' (2011). It was produced by The Super Chris and

Michael Corcoran Michael Corcoran (September 21, 1827 – December 22, 1863) was an Irish-American general in the Union Army during the American Civil War and a close confidant of President Abraham Lincoln. As its colonel, he led the 69th New York Regiment to ...

, who also co-wrote the song with C.J. Abraham,

Nick Hexum Nicholas Lofton Hexum (born April 12, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter and rapper, currently the vocalist and guitarist for the multi-platinum alternative rock band 311 and The Nick Hexum Quintet. Early life Born in Madison, Wisconsin, to ...

, Zack Hexum, and

Dan Schneider Daniel James Schneider (born January 14, 1966) is an American television producer, screenwriter, and actor. After appearing in mostly supporting roles in a number of 1980s and 1990s films and TV shows, Schneider devoted himself to behind-the-s ...

. It was released as the second single from the soundtrack to digital platforms on November 22, 2010, through

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

and

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

. Musically, it is a

teen pop Teen pop is a subgenre of pop music that is created, marketed and oriented towards preteens and teenagers.Lamb, Bill"Teen Pop" About.com. Retrieved January 28, 2007. Teen pop incorporates different subgenres of pop music, as well as elements o ...

track with lyrics about fighting with an boyfriend. A ''Victorious'' episode of the same name premiered on November 26, 2010, and features Tori Vega (Justice), Jade West ( Elizabeth Gillies) and Cat Valentine (

Ariana Grande Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her four-octave vocal range has received critical acclaim, and her personal life has been the subject of widespread media attention. She has received ...

) trying to expose a rigged karaoke competition. The song was met with generally positive reviews from critics, with the majority of them praising its catchiness. "Freak the Freak Out" peaked at number 50 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, giving Justice her highest charting single on the chart. The song was certified gold in the United States by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA). An accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was released on November 19, 2010, and was later added to Justice's

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel on September 20, 2012. The visual portrays Justice and the ''Victorious'' cast at a warehouse in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, dancing against other people. Justice performed the song live at the 2010

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade in New York City presented by the U.S.-based department store chain Macy's. The Parade first took place in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States with ...

Background and release

"Freak the Freak Out" was released as the second single to digital platforms from the

'' Victorious: Music from the Hit TV Show'' on November 22, 2010. It later appeared on the American television sitcom ''

Victorious ''Victorious'' (stylized as ''VICTORiOUS'') is an American sitcom created by Dan Schneider (TV producer), Dan Schneider that originally aired on Nickelodeon, debuting on March 27, 2010, and concluding on February 2, 2013 after four seasons. Th ...

'' one-hour special of the same name on November 26, 2010. In the episode, Tori Vega (

) and her friends are thrilled to try out Karaoke Dokie, a fictional karaoke club that features weekly singing competitions. On the night of a competition, Jade West ( Elizabeth Gillies) and Cat Valentine (

) team up to perform, but the club's owner tampers the competition so his daughter and her friend can win. Jade and Cat seek out Tori for her help to get revenge. Tori sings "Freak the Freak Out" while wearing a disguise consisting of a hat, wig, wart, and prosthetic nose. The song was written by

, also known as Backhouse Mike, C.J. Abraham,

, Zack Hexum,

. It also featured addition production by Greg Wells on additional production.The mixing for the song was provided by Greg Wellstook place at Rocket Carousel in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Corcoran and the Super Chris produced the track along with providing all the instruments on the song. Corcoran also provided the guitars. Corcoran was also included on the programming for the song with CJ Abraham, both of which engineered the track in the Backhouse in Los Angeles. Corcoran and Abraham provided additional vocals along with Niki Watkins, Nick and Zack Hexum.

Music and lyrics

Writing for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, William Ruhlmann described "Freak the Freak Out" as a

song. Jason Lipshutz, writing for ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' said the song finds Justice "having a blast with the G-rated concept and flashing an undeniable amount of charisma". Bob Hoose and Steven Isaac for

Plugged In Focus on the Family (FOTF or FotF) is a fundamentalist Protestant organization founded in 1977 in Southern California by James Dobson, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The group is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations t ...

compared to track to the works of American singer

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on modern pop music and her Camp (style), campy style, she has been ...

. Both critics say the track is about how "Tori blows up at an uncommunicative boyfriend": "I'm so sick of it/Your attention deficit/Never listen, you never listen/I'm so sick of it/So I’ll throw another fit." They opined that the "second 'freak' in the title is a not-so-subtle substitute for an intended obscenity".

Reception

"Freak the Freak Out" was met with mainly positive reviews from music critics. Lipshutz opined the song "deserves to be re-discovered as a highly campy, totally transfixing single". The staff of ''

Tiger Beat ''Tiger Beat'' is an American internet teen fan magazine originally published by The Laufer Company, and marketed primarily to adolescent girls. The magazine had a paper edition that was sold at stores until December 2018. History and profile ' ...

'' stated the track "has such a catchy and fun beat to it. It's definitely something we need to get on our mp3 players ASAP". Megan Gaertner for ''

Her Campus ''Her Campus'' is an online magazine targeted at the female college student demographic. Content in the magazine is written by more than 7,000 contributors from more than 400 campus chapters located in nine countries. The magazine was founded ...

'' placed the song at number four on her ''The Best Songs from Victorious'' list, saying the song "is another great bop" and that it "was and still is a great one to jam out to with you besties". In a less enthusiastic review, Ruhlmann mentioned it is "typical of the genre een pop with their relentless beats, synthesized instrumentations, nonstop simple, repetitive choruses, and Auto-Tune vocals". "Freak the Freak Out" debuted at number 78 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart dated December 18, 2010. The song later peaked at number 50 on the chart in January 2011, giving Justice her highest hit on the Hot 100. It also peaked at number six on the ''Billboard'' Kids Digital Song Sales. The

(RIAA) certified the single a gold certification, which denotes 500,000 units based on sales and track-equivalent on-demand streams in the United States.

Promotion

for "Freak the Freak Out" was released on November 19, 2010, and was streamed on Nick.com and Nick's wireless partners. It was later uploaded to VictoriousVEVO

channel on September 20, 2012. It was the first music video to be made for a ''Victorious'' song. The visual features Justice and the ''Victorious'' cast doing a dance-off with other people at a warehouse in downtown

. Gillies, Leon Thomas III,

Matt Bennett Matt Bennett (born November 13, 1991) is an American actor. He is known for playing the role of Robbie Shapiro in the Nickelodeon sitcom ''Victorious'' and for starring in the Will Ferrell-produced film ''The Virginity Hit''. Early life Bennett ...

, and Avan Jogia dance to the song on the dance floor. Justice performed the song live at the 2010

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In January 2020, Grande and Bennett sang the song while staying at

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...

Credits and personnel

Credits are taken from ''Victorious''

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

. *

– vocals *

- songwriting, production, instrumentation, guitars, programming, engineering, background vocals *The Super Chris - production, instrumentation *C.J. Abraham - songwriting, programming, engineering, background vocals *

- songwriting, background vocals *Zack Hexum - songwriting, background vocals *

- songwriting *Niki Watkins - background vocals *

Greg Wells Greg Wells is a Canadian musician, record producer, songwriter and audio engineer. Wells has songs on over 130 million albums sold. He has worked with John Legend, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ariana Grande, Jazmine Sullivan, Kid Cudi, Adele, Rufus Wai ...

- additional production, mixing

Charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freak the Freak Out 2010 songs 2010 singles Columbia Records singles Songs from television series Songs written by Michael Corcoran (musician) Songs written by Nick Hexum Songs written by Zack Hexum Teen pop songs Victoria Justice songs Victorious